Keeping them busy all summer long...

As pre-K is rapidly winding down for the year, the long stretch of summer is looming. This is not as much of a shock for me as it is for many other moms with school age kids, since I am used to having O home with me everyday. Still, the idea of being home with 2 active boys for months on end (without the break of school, music class, and our other regularly scheduled activities) is both exciting and daunting. While most of the other children in C's class are heading off to full day, multi-week camps, C and O will be staying home with me. Right now I have the luxury of being home with them, so I want to enjoy it!  But that means that the boys' entertainment will be completely up to me.

To that end, we are continuing our tradition of making a "Summer Adventures" list. In late spring, the boys and I sit down and come up with a list of all the fun things we want to do during summer vacation.  Making the list is a big part of getting excited for summer. C checks on the list every few days and can't wait until we start crossing things off it. Some will happen, and some probably won't. But, here is what we'd love to accomplish this summer:

1. Move (yikes!)
2. Explore all of the playgrounds in our new neighborhood
3. Take a family vacation
4. Swimming lessons
5. Join the library's summer reading program and read, read, read
6. Go Strawberry Picking
7. Go Blueberry Picking
8. Go on a Treasure Hunt in the Woods
9. Have a beach day
10. Go to a minor league baseball game
11. Go to a local racetrack and see a real car race
12. Play Minigolf
13. Bowling
14. Go for a hike
15. Visit local Children's Museum
16. Visit local Science Museum
17. Visit local Aquarium
18. Go to preseason football game
19. Visit Gramma and Grampa
20. Visit the local farm
21. Visit Zoo
22. Host BBQ 

Last year, our summer adventures list helped us keep a good balance between active outings and lazy days at home. I firmly believe that the boys need both, but I do better with at least a loose weekly schedule. 

What do you and your family have planned for the summer? I'd love some more fun ideas!

We are all artists.

C's pre-K class just finished a 3 week unit on art, culminating in a trip to a local art museum. I've been hearing about this unit in little snippets after school.. It's been interesting to try to figure out what on earth they've been doing from the one line facts that C chose to provide. 

"Art is shoes."

"Picasso didn't just do paintings, he also did sculptures."

"And then there were marbles, but my marbles kept falling out, so it didn't really work."

"We made stabiles. It's like a mobile but it's a stabile." 

"Kline painted with lines."

"We got to splat! The paintbrush wasn't allowed to touch the paper. Only to splat or drip. Like my friend Jack makes art." (I later found out that they had been studying Jackson Pollack.)

"We're all artists, Mom. Even you."

I was really quite bewildered. But I could tell that he was having fun with the unit, and maybe learning a little something too.

When I asked him how the trip to the museum was, he eagerly told me how on the way there in his classmate's car they watched "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" and on the way home they watched "Mickey saves Santa."

But what about the museum? "Well, we looked at some art, and then we went to the bathroom, and then we had snack, and then we looked at a little more art and then came home." With a little more prodding, he did eventually say that they looked at a Mondrian painting and then tried to copy it.

So I was really surprised by the impressive display of their creations when the class opened their own art gallery this week. Even though the information didn't always come home, it was clear that they touched on all different types of art, from pop art, to line art, to sculptures, to still lifes, and quilting. Seeing all the kids showing off their work with such pride was wonderful. They knew that they really were artists. And that's the best lesson of them all.

O's tale

The boys were taking turns telling me stories this afternoon. This was O's tale.

"Once upon a time there was a Baby Mario. And a Baby Luigi hugged him. And then they got flushed down the toilet! HA HA HA HA HA! And then there was a little, little, little...no, a giant, giant, giant bear that scared them. The End!"

I'm not sure why I found this so funny, but I truly laughed until I had tears in my eyes!

Happy Mother's Day

to all the mommies out there...

...who wouldn't trade this job for anything!

Feeling like "that mom"

I like to think that I am raising my boys to be well mannered.  On their own, they behave quite nicely, and C's teacher has no complaints about his behavior in school. But lately, when the two of them are together, it's as if their energies collide and combust, creating a whirlwind of noise and running. It's not that they are having tantrums (although they have plenty of those too), it's more of a jubilant tornado. All that happy energy and noise proves very disruptive when we are in public, and makes me feel like "that mom".

You know the one.

The one that people roll their eyes at and wonder, "How can she let them behave that way?" or "Why doesn't she control her children?" When they are chattering and singing so loudly at a restaurant during lunch that two separate parties ask to be seated elsewhere as the server leads them in our direction. Or racing around the aisles in the shoe store (reminding me why I prefer to do most of my shopping online). Or playing "bonk heads" in the double cart at Costco. (They never believe me when I tell them that this is not a good game, even though it ends in tears every time.)

To all the tired and exasperated moms that I rolled my eyes at before I had children, I apologize. I didn't know. I had no idea that sometimes the energies of a 5 and 3 year old really can not be tamed. That boys truly will be boys. That sometimes asking nicely, bribing with snacks, and doling out time outs just doesn't work. 

I know now. Because I'm "that mom" too.

Water water everywhere...

Due to a major water main break, we spent the last few days without drinkable tap water. Until the "boil water" order went into effect, I had never really thought about how often I use tap water. A quick drink, wetting a paper towel to wipe a messy face after a meal, washing my hands, rinsing a toothbrush, running the dishwasher, all these things and more were off limits for 3 days. In fact, it was so automatic for the boys and I to just reach for the tap that I had to wrap a towel around the faucet handles to remind us to stop!

The novelty made it somewhat fun. As I washed and rinsed pots and pans in a basin full of previously boiled water, I felt like a pioneer woman. Yes, the paper plates, plastic utensils, and bottled water for drinking (and coffee making!) ruined the illusion a bit.

I got a glimpse of human nature in a local CVS when bottled water sold out right in front of me. Some people walked out with 16 cases just for themselves, smirking at others who got turned away. I had only wanted to pick up a couple of gallon jugs that I could use and then refill because I didn't have any pitchers to store boiled water in, but I got concerned when I saw the shortage and surrounding hysteria. Everyone was saying that this would last for a week or more. So I grabbed up a couple of cases too. I couldn't even have bought a gallon jug if I wanted to, since the shelves were completely bare.  I felt guilty buying into the "every man for himself" philosophy, but still took what I thought would be enough for us if the shortage went on for more than a week. And remained grateful that at least we could boil water. After all, the bottled water was just more convenient. It wasn't necessary. I can't even imagine what the scene would have been like if we had no water at all.

This situation certainly opened my eyes to what I have always taken for granted--having potable water whenever I want it. I also never realized just how much I use water every day! We did drink a lot of tap water before we heard about the order. Here's hoping we stay healthy! I'll raise a glass of water to that!

On Marriage

C: "Mom, when I grow up, I'm going to marry you!'"

Me: "Oh, you can't marry me. I'm your Mom."

C: "Why not? I love you the best!"

Me: "Because people don't marry their moms. And, I'm already married to Daddy, remember?"

C: "That's ok...I'll marry you again!"

Me: "You're very sweet. But, I am sure that by the time you are old enough to get married, you won't want to marry me anymore."

O pipes in: "Then I'll marry you, Mommy!"

I am soooo coming back to read this when the boys are older and don't want to be seen with their super lame Mom anymore.

Getting older

I am only in my mid 30s, but the last few weeks I've been feeling much older. I pulled a muscle in my back twice in two weeks, which left me hobbling around unable to stand up straight for several days each time. "Is this what it feels like to be an old lady?!" I asked Hubby repeatedly. I also noticed my first gray bang hair (I've had a few other grays before, but never in the bangs), and have overall just been exhausted. I guess the boys are picking up on these developments, because yesterday O announced:

"Mom, you're not three. You're twenty-hundred!"

Sigh...

How nice it is...

...to go for a hike without needing a stroller!

Stereotypes

Yesterday, while coloring, C mentioned that he was going to draw something pink. Pink is one of his three favorite colors (along with blue and green) and often shows up in his arts & crafts projects. Then he sighed, and said, "Mom. The other day in school, Millie laughed at me when I was riding the pink bike."
"She did?" I asked. "Why?"
"Because the pink bike is for girls, I guess." C said.
"How did that make you feel?" I asked.
"Sad," he said, with another deep sigh. "But I can ride the pink bike, right? Pink's not ALL for girls! Boys can like pink too, right Mom?"
"Of course you can!" I said. "It's fine that you like pink, and you can ride the pink bike if you want to."
"But, I forgot to laugh at her when she rode the blue boy bike today." C said. I pointed out that if he felt bad when Millie laughed at him, Millie would probably feel bad if he laughed at her, and he agreed.

It makes me sad that C is being pressured to conform to these gender stereotypes already. I've worked very hard to encourage all his interests, and even though he's always gravitated toward the more typical boyish toys (trains, cars, etc), he also has a play kitchen, and enjoys the book Pinkalicious. He loves to dance and be silly.

He just turned 5. Can't he still like pink if he wants to?

Hospitality

C: "Why did Daddy decide to be a hospitality doctor?"

Me: "A what?"

C: "You know, a hospitality doctor...A Paternarian!"

Cake Two

This past weekend we celebrated O's 3rd birthday, and with that came another adventure in baking.  This was a very hectic week for us, filled with illnesses and house hunting, and I just didn't have the energy to make another fancy cake. Cue the mommy guilt...now! However, O said that he wanted a Lightning race cake, and I think I managed to make that happen. Even though this cake was quite simple, just stacked rectangular cakes with an oreo cookie crumb raceway, O was thrilled that it displayed the final scene of his all time favorite movie CARS (Chick Hicks winning the race because Lightning is pushing the damaged King).

We also had a small party with a few of his friends, and Hubby noted that O was quite a stud, since all the guests were girls! We managed to get the group to play a party game (Pin the Sticker on the Lightning) and O seemed to have a great time.

Now he keeps announcing "I am bigger! I am Three!"

And I just can't believe it.

Imaginative Play

The Easter Bunny brought each of the boys a mini Lego set. C's was a pirate ship, and O's was a little house scene. We had fun coming up with some imaginative play that melded them both together.

The pirate came searching for the magic treasure chest that was hidden in the king's house. I'm not sure what Mater was doing there, but he was clearly important.

Who IS the Easter Bunny?

A conversation in the car, on the way to get egg dyeing materials...

O: "I love Easter Eggs! I want to have an Egg Hunt!"
Me: "Well, maybe the Easter Bunny will leave you some eggs to find."
O: "The Easter Bunny? Who is the Easter Bunny?"
Me: (hmmm...I guess he doesn't remember last year...he was only 2...) "You know...the Easter Bunny! The one who brings Easter baskets with candy to all the good little boys."
O: "But...who IS the Easter Bunny?"
Me: "Ummm....I don't know. But he's magic! Like Santa."
O: "Oh. But is he a guy? Or a bunny?"
Me: "He's a bunny. But a magic bunny."
O: "Maybe he turns into a magic guy...or...maybe he turns into A MAGIC RACE CAR!!!!"
Me: "Um...maybe? I don't know. I think he is just a bunny."
O: "Oh...(long sad sigh)...Or a magic tow truck??"
Me: "Sure!  I don't know how the magic works."
O: "Well, I love that Easter Bunny!"
Me: "You do?"
O: "Yeah, I'm going to give him a big hug!"
 

Lucky bunny.

April Fools

Driving home from school yesterday...

C: "Tomorrow is April First! That means it's April Fools Day, Mom!"
Me: "MmmHmm. Did you talk about that at school?"
C: "Yeah, on April Fools, you play tricks on people. So I'm going to play a trick on you! And on Daddy!"
Me: "Oh really? What kind of trick?"
C: "I haven't decided yet."
Me: "Did your teachers talk about what kind of tricks you could play?"
C: "A little bit. In Circle time. I know!! I could tell you that you have a snake in your hair!"
Me: "Oh."
C: "Or I could tell you that you're not driving! HA HA HA HA!!"
Me: "But...I AM driving."
C: "But, I could say that you're NOT! HA HA HA! April Fools!"

I just know I am going to be in big trouble when he actually figures out how this works...

Letter Maker

Last week in PreK, C's class focused on Anansi the Spider stories.  I wasn't very familiar with Anansi, but C tells me he is a "trickster" and there are lots of stories about him. One of the stories they read was about Anansi's children, all of whom have interesting names that describe their special skills ("see trouble", "river drinker", etc). For an activity that day, each of the kids drew a picture of what their spider name would be.

When I dropped him off the next morning, hanging on the wall amidst the ballet dancers, train builders, and taxi drivers was...

When I saw his creation, I couldn't help but smile at what he came up with. Anyone who knows C at all will realize exactly how perfect his choice was. Because how could my alphabet loving, early reading son be anything else?!

Rainy days are here again

Ugh. Another day of constant downpours. This is already the wettest March on record, and we're expecting a few more inches of rain today. I can see water starting to seep into the basement again, just like it did two weeks ago.  I spent several days learning to love a shop vac back then, and was hoping to never put those skills to use again! As of five minutes ago, there is only a small trickle of water slowly coming in through a crack in back stairs. Not enough to start cleaning up...yet.

So, for now, I think curling up on the couch with the boys, scarfing down some homemade chocolate chip cookies, and watching The Princess and the Frog is definitely in order.

I guess there are still a few good things about rainy days!
 

Budding Ansel Adams?

One of C's favorite birthday gifts was a kiddy camera.  He's had a great time taking pictures of his favorite things. Here's some of his work.

The TV (a study in perspective). 

No photoshopping here--he rotated the actual camera to get his angles.

Lightning and a leg                                                     

Wedgits

Of course, O wanted a turn with the camera too. Here is some of his work.

Ankles                                                                         

His Own Ear

Out of the Fog

Last night Hubby said, "You really need to update your blog! You sounded so despondent in your last post, and things are much better now!" And indeed, he was right. We persisted in potty training O, and I'm so glad we did. We made steady progress from that point forward, and this week has been completely different from last week. O's had 2 days in a row without any accidents at all, he's stayed dry through the night, and is now the one initiating trips to the potty. I'm sure we'll have some missteps along the way, but for now, things are great!

But while now I am bursting with pride and success, my last post was an accurate snippet of how I was feeling just a few days ago. Parenting is hard, and can easily make one full of self doubt. And I'm sure there will be many more times that I am convinced that I am doing everything wrong. Some days just feel like I'm walking through a cloud of fog, desperately trying to make it to the other side, even though I'm not sure what awaits me because I can't see that far ahead. I keep pushing forward, hoping that I haven't gotten turned around. That I haven't lost my way. That I'm not just wandering aimlessly in circles. Because I have two kids holding onto my hands and following my lead. So I can't screw it up.

I can only hope that in the end, we all get to where we want to be.

Potty training stinks.

This week we embarked on potty training O. Potty training may bring out the best in some mothers, their compassion and patience only fueled by the challenge ahead.

I am not one of those mothers.

I have a tendency to get very frustrated and want to give up. All the potty training advice is to make sure that your child is really ready, and also that you (the parent) are ready. With C, I attempted to wait for both of those things to be true. When he first seemed ready, O was an infant and I wasn't interested. When I finally came out of that "new baby" stupor and was ready to train him, C had lost interest.  So I waited. And waited. And waited. And when C was 39 months and was learning to read, but still had no interest in the potty, I knew it was time to put my foot down. If I left it up to him, he'd never choose to disrupt the status quo. C trained fairly quickly after that, but I am not sure the battle over it helped anyone. I was quite sure I had waited too long, did this and that wrong. It certainly was not an experience that helped build my confidence.

I was determined to do a better job this time around. O has already been waking up dry for a couple months now and seemed interested in underwear, so I figured we'd give it a shot. I loved the idea that he would be successfully trained by his 3rd birthday next month. The first two days went pretty well. He was motivated to sit on the potty frequently and had a lot of successes. He was enjoying his sticker chart and looked forward to opening a prize left by the "potty fairy" the first day he had no accidents. But after that things went downhill. He hasn't wanted to sit on the potty at all, and screams "I don't have to go!!! I don't have the feeling!!!" all day long, even as he's doing the pee pee dance. I don't feel like struggling with him, and forcing him to sit when he doesn't want to, so I let him off the potty after a couple minutes of protesting. Only to see him pee on the floor 2 minutes later. Which makes me question everything. I knew he had to pee! Should I have made him sit for longer even though he was screaming? Let him get off and put him back on 2 seconds later? Is he just not ready? But he's having a lot of successes, and only 1 or 2 accidents a day! Isn't that progress? Do I need better bribes? Am I just not paying close enough attention? Am I paying too much attention? My 5 year old told my MIL on the phone, "Mom doesn't care about me at all, she only cares about O" because I've been spending so much time in the bathroom with his little brother! Isn't that a sign that I am just failing both my children?!?! 

I am soooo ready to just quit and try again in a couple weeks/months.  The wrench in the works? O doesn't want to go back to diapers! He wants to keep wearing underpants. And he says "No Mommy! I want to keep trying!" Maybe he is ready. And maybe I'm not. But I think now we're stuck. If only there were a patience pill I could take. I sure do need something!